A standard type of housing or carrier for an integrated circuit chip comprises a rectangular body of insulating material having outwardly facing chip carrier side surfaces on which there are provided contact pads or leads which extend from conductors which in turn extend from the integrated circuit chip contained in the chip carrier. When the chip carrier is tested prior to its being placed in service, it is placed in a chip carrier connector temporarily while "burn-in" and tests are carried out. Chip carrier connectors of this type are commonly referred to as "burn-in" connectors because chip carriers having integrated circuits thereon are usually tested at elevated temperatures before being placed in service. After the chip carrier has been tested, it is placed permanently in a chip carrier connector on a circuit board or the like.
A known type of chip carrier connector comprises a housing of insulating material having a recess therein which receives the chip carrier. The housing has contact terminals therein which engage or contact the contact pads on the chip carrier when the chip carrier is placed in the recess. The contact force with which each of the contact terminals engages the contact pads on the chip carrier in an important consideration. This contact force is relatively low if the contact surfaces are all plated with gold; however, it must be higher if the surfaces are tin plated. In either event, it is important that this contact force be closely controlled in the connector in which the chip carrier is used. The higher the contact force required, the greater the insertion force required for insertion of the chip carrier into the recess of the housing. In order to avoid this problem of high insertion force, chip carrier connectors have been designed to allow for low insertion force while still providing the required contact force to make electrical connection with the conductive areas on the circuit board.
In an effort to provide a chip carrier connector having zero or low insertion force characteristics and a means to closely control the contact force exerted by the contact terminals of the chip carrier connector on the contact pad surfaces or the contact leads of the chip carrier, the multipart chip carrier connector disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 814,511, filed Dec. 18, 1985, and now U.S. Pat. No. 4,630,875, was produced. This chip carrier connector has a frame outside the housing which cooperates with the terminals such that only low insertion force is required to place the chip carrier in the chip carrier recess. At the same time, it provides a predetermined contact force after the chip carrier is placed in the connector. The chip carrier connector of this type is particularly desirable in "burn-in" type connector applications because of the fact that the connector is used repeatedly in burn-in and in testing newly-manufactured chip carriers. The problem with this type of connector is that the chip carrier requires a special frame for operation which is costly to manufacture and occupies a relatively large space.